1989 Rover - Austin Metro 1.0 Club 1.0 from UK and Ireland

Summary:

Reliable grandad

Faults:

Clutch cable snapped, brake lights circuit failed (kept blowing fuse, so had a penny jammed in there).

General Comments:

Car was extremely slow for driving in the modern era. Motor way cruising uncomfortable.

Suffered poor starting of points system, and took quite a time to get going. If you joined straight into traffic, it was a nightmare.

This car's engine was worn, and poor bhp new. improved after a good service however.

The car used a good 500 ml of oil every 100 miles.

However this car was ultra cheap (£250) and only failed its MOT on rusty sills. Nothing was needed for the car, and it never really broke down. I assume the electrical fault was down to a bad earth, or switch. I managed a 200 miles trip on about 12 pounds of petrol (in England, 90p per litre, which is outstanding, but I was doing 50mpg!)

The car was a good load lugger and served me well as a stop gap for year in my youth. It had an almost retro feel with the classic a-series whine.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 23rd December, 2005

1989 Rover - Austin Metro 1.0L 1.0 from UK and Ireland

Summary:

Great for what you pay

Faults:

The engine mountings were soft.

The indicator switch packed it in.

Headlights stopped working due to switch.

The exhaust fell off three times due to mountings.

Rear wiper stopped working and suddenly started again a month later.

Left CV on it's way out.

General Comments:

Despite all the problems I've had, the car is cheap to repair.

The parts are readily available from main dealers in the U.K. and from a wide variety of breakers yards.

The car is great fun to drive, but not great for pulling birds.

Cheap insurance and tax is great.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 11th April, 2003

15th Jan 2004, 08:42

I have this car and I have to argee there are many things that can go wrong, I brought the car for £450 and there are many things that are wrong with it!it has a leak, but nothing that can't be fixed however I'm 18 and it's a great 1st car!! cheap to ensure: £600! I'm a girl and I love metros, my girl mates love them to! can't see why they wouldn't be good for pulling birds! they are excellent cars to do up and modify!!! can't wait to get mine finished and take it for a spin!

27th Apr 2004, 06:40

I had one of these, then had an MG metro, now have a GTa, there very easy to do up as most mini performance parts will fit them, but agree woman don't seem to like them so you must be special!!

Ralph.

1989 Rover - Austin Metro L 1.3 petrol from UK and Ireland

Summary:

Fun car, but only for about two miles!

Faults:

The engine never started without the choke (even minutes after turning it off). With the choke full out on cold days it needed a severe caning to warm it up - otherwise it just died.

The near side CV joint boot kept slipping off allowing grit and scum to contaminate the grease inside it.

The road noise was so loud you had to shout to the other passengers.

The engine was knackered after only 60000 miles. I know loads of other metro drivers with the same problem - the engines are just not built to last.

The steering wheel was large enough to be used on a bus and at a stupid angle.

The hydrogas suspension leval was constantly changing and needed topping up (and letting out) all the time. Consequently this has the effect of upsetting the tracking and prematurely wearing the tyres.

Broken fuel gauge.

General Comments:

Good fun car to learn to drive in or as your first car.

Not reliable anytime, anywhere.

Driving it reminded me of being on a badly erected fairground ride.

Poor mileage - about 22 mpg was the most I ever got out of it.

Still cost loads to insure even for a crappy car. (Maybe that says something about it's safety?!?)

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 16th December, 2002

20th Dec 2002, 06:14

Hmmm. I got good reliability and 40mpg from my 1.3VDP Metro, even when caned! Could it be that you are just a little too excessive with your criticism when you really haven't got a clue how to drive properly?